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Reddick v. State11/18/2003
Adam R. Samuels and Demetrius Reddick were indicted by a Chatham County grand jury on charges of murder, felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, four counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, theft by receiving, carrying a concealed weapon, carrying a pistol without a license, and reckless conduct. A jury found them guilty of the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and reckless conduct, and acquitted them as to two counts of firearm possession. The State nol prossed the remaining charges. Samuels's and Reddick's amended motions for new trial were denied, and they appeal. Because the jury's verdict of guilty of reckless conduct as against one victim was factually inconsistent with its guilty verdict of aggravated assault as against the same victim, we reverse the convictions for aggravated assault and reckless conduct on Counts 4 and 12 of the indictment and remand them for a new trial. In all other respects, we affirm.
Case No. A03A0982
1. Reddick asserts the general grounds. Construed in favor of the jury's verdict, the evidence shows that the deceased victim, a white male, was driving with a friend through a Savannah neighborhood on the afternoon of Christmas Day when he encountered two African-American teenage boys, brothers, riding on their bicycles. The driver and his passenger called the two teenagers vile and racially offensive names, and they responded in kind. The driver struck one of the brothers with his car, knocking him off his bicycle and causing scrapes and bruises. After the collision, the driver got out of the car and used threatening language towards the teenager who was still on the ground, then "took off."
About that time, Reddick and his older brother Samuels arrived on the scene in Reddick's distinctive car. While the injured teenager was taken to the hospital, his older brother got into the car with Samuels and Reddick, intending to get the license number of the victim's car. The teenager saw Reddick and Samuels both reach for a gun from behind the ashtray in the console, and saw Samuels take the gun and put it in his lap.
After some time, they were able to see the car's license number, and Samuels wrote it down on Reddick's business card. Reddick pursued the other car at high speeds and the wrong way on a one-way street. Eventually the driver pulled over into an apartment parking lot, and he and his passenger spoke with Reddick. An eyewitness saw this confrontation as he was working on his car in the parking lot, and he was able to identify Reddick's distinctive car in detail, including a partial license number. After some heated discussion, in which the driver denied having hit the boy on the bicycle, the driver butted his head against Reddick's car, and he and his passenger got back in their car and drove away.
As the victims' car was leaving the scene, " he passenger of the purple car . . . got out, and calmly raised his arm and pointed a gun and fired one shot and got back in the car." The bullet passed through the rear window of the victims' car and struck the driver in the back of the head, killing him. The teenager in Reddick's car testified that Reddick told Samuels, "Wet his a--," and Samuels "opened his door, stepped around the car, and fired." The teenager also testified that he never saw a weapon produced by the victims and that they never threatened to kill anybody in Reddick's car.
Reddick then drove home, switched cars, and took the teenager home. Later the same evening, the teenager located Reddick at a gas station near his home and retrieved the
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